Middle Orient

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Hundreds of Christian families who fled Iraq’s northern city of Mosul in fear for their lives this month have returned home in the past few days, a senior Christian lawmaker said Tuesday.

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish separatist targets on Tuesday in northern Iraq with the backing of artillery fire from Turkey, the military said.

GAZA (Reuters) – Hamas said Tuesday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s security forces had arrested 170 of its members in the West Bank in the past four weeks in a campaign that could hamper Egyptian-sponsored unity talks.

Iraq has denounced a raid into Syria at the weekend, saying it does not want its territory to be used as a launch-point for US attacks on its neighbours.

Syria condemns a deadly US raid on its soil as “serious aggression” while Washington says the attack was meant to send a message to Damascus .

TEHRAN (FNA)- The United States is putting pressure on Iraqis to accept a security pact that outlines deployment of US troops in Iraq, an influential Iranian cleric said on Friday, after Baghdad called for changes to the draft.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov voiced his country’s support for the idea of allowing the US troops to stay in Iraq under an extended United Nations mandate.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani lashed out on Wednesday at the security deal being negotiated between Baghdad and Washington, saying it impinged on Iraqi sovereignty.

More than 500 Palestinian security reinforcements deployed in the flashpoint West Bank town of Hebron on Saturday as part of a widening crackdown in the occupied territory, officials said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have decided to cut production by 1.5m barrels a day from November in a bid to stem a collapse in prices.